Attraction&Repulsion: Valentines Special
by Vanishing Trooper
Summary: Set immediately after the events of 'A&R'. Touko and Kanako are now a couple and will have their very first date together. Find out what happens! ToukoXKanako


**Author's notes:** Hello everybody! Since its Valentines Day, I decided to give everyone a nice treat so…I give you a Valentines Special of Attraction & Repulsion. I've been planning this for the past week now and it turned out to be a lot longer than I had originally expected but…oh well. This is just a one shot on Touko and Kanako's first date as a couple but it's still part of my multi-story continuity so expect some things relating to 'My Red Rosebud' here as well. Anyway, please enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything on this fic that can be used against me in a court of law.

...

Seven Days, it has been seven days since the moment when Kanako had reached out to Touko and brought the drill-haired girl back from the darkness of her heart. The issue between Touko and Yumi has yet to be resolved but that was fine, Kanako wanted her beloved to settle down at her own pace and she…they will cross that bridge when they get there.

_Beloved?_ Kanako suddenly blushed at the thought.

_It's only been a week since that time and I'm already thinking of Touko-san in that manner?_ Kanako has been realizing how much of a romanticist she really is. Ever since the day when she and Touko had been clear about their feelings about each other, she could not stop thinking about the drill-haired girl. It was much more intense than her previous infatuation with her perceived 'perfect' Rosa Chinensis En Bouton. It was most certainly the first time she had ever felt this way, but she really wasn't complaining about it either. Kanako unconsciously stroked the ring that Touko gave her which was now back in her left ring finger. She didn't care what others thought of it, it was a precious gift that her Touko gave to her.

_My…Touko…_Kanako smiled at the thought as she entered the school gates. It was the twenty-first of March and the middle of the school week. The current En Boutons, except for Noriko, will be taking over the duties of the Grand Roses in a couple of weeks.

_Yumi-sama will no longer be a rosebud but will bloom into a beautiful Red Rose soon… _Kanako thought fondly as she prayed at the Mary Statue, her admiration for Yumi was still strong though not as obsessive as before. Afterall, she has someone new to be obsessed about and everyone who is reading this should already know who that is.

...

Kanako opened the door to the classroom and looked around. She found Noriko and Touko talking which usually means that Noriko is still teasing Touko about what happened between her and the drill-haired girl a few days ago.

"Gokigenyo, Noriko-san…Touko…chan…" Kanako said the last part with a bit of embarrassment, her blush making it more visual. Touko also shared the embarrassment and blushed as well. Noriko was enjoying the new but adorable awkwardness between her friends lately and gave her new reasons to mess with them.

"Gokigenyo, Kanako-san…" Noriko greeted. The Rosa Gigantea En Bouton nudged Touko and gave her a wry smile.

"Aren't you going to greet Kanako-san?" Noriko provoked her friend. Touko gave her an annoyed look and glanced at Kanako. The tall girl till had a tinge of pink in her cheeks but gave Touko a gentle smile. She has been getting a lot of those from Kanako lately and everytime she did, she felt like melting away on the spot.

"Gokigenyo…Kanako………chan…" Both girls' cheeks flared up once again at the last part and Noriko giggled at how shy her two friends have become.

_Ahhh…young love…_Noriko thought like an old maid while sighing to the rather carefree love-love attitude of Touko and Kanako.

Class went on normally for them with a few glances between the new lovebirds. Neither of them really knew how they should act with each other since neither of them really had any experience in this kind of thing but, like Kanako decided, they would take it at their own pace.

Eventually, the bell rang to signal the end of morning classes and the start of Lunch Break. Noriko quickly excused herself because the Yamayurikai had to get ready for the upcoming graduation. The new couple waved their friend goodbye and Kanako lead Touko to the greenhouse where they can eat lunch together without being bothered.

"So this is where you were leading me huh?" Touko mused as she stood in front of the greenhouse. Kanako had already opened the door and was about to enter but stopped when she heard Touko say that.

"Umm…yes…I was hoping that we could eat here again, like last time." Kanako said while fidgeting. Touko saw how Kanako was trying her best (and failing) to keep her cool in front of Touko and the drill-haired girl thought that it was quite cute of her and decided to mess with her new girlfriend a bit. Touko moved up close to Kanako and gave her one of her best mischievous smiles.

"W—what is it Touko-ch—chan?" Kanko asked, her heartbeat breaking several speed limits in Japan.

"Soooooo…you wanted me all to yourself so you lead me to a secluded place where no one normally goes to? My goodness, you are a lot more daring than I thought Kanako-chaaaan…" Touko said the last part with a sultry voice while placing her head on Kanako's shoulder.

"Aahh….aahhh…ah…aaaaa…." was all Kanako could say as she was caught way off guard with Touko's sudden attack. The perpetrator simply backed away a few steps and started giggling.

"Awwww…That's so cute. Getting all flustered like that." Touko teased. Kanako whipped her head away from Touko and let out a sharp breath.

"I hate you…" Kanako muttered and entered the greenhouse. She then felt Touko latch on to her right arm. The tall girl looked down and saw her girlfriend giving her an apologetic smile.

"I guess I went too far…sorry Kanako-chan." Touko said while placing her head on Kanako's shoulder. She could hear the taller girl sigh. Touko looked up and saw Kanako looking at her lovingly.

"I wonder what our past selves would say if they saw us?" Kanako asked, to which Touko gave another sly smile.

"They'd probably try to beat some sense into us." Touko replied, to which Kanako nodded.

...

"Umm…Touko…chan…" Kanako called out to Touko who was beside her. They had just finished eating lunch and were sitting in the greenhouse while holding hands, the only place so far where they ever really had the courage to do that. Ironically, it was the same spot where Sei and Shiori had one of their last romantic moments before they were torn away from each other by fate. But that's just some arbitrary trivia.

"Yeah?" Touko looked up; she was currently leaning onto Kanako and had her head on her shoulder again. Touko had developed a liking to doing that and even with Kanako's initial resistance for it, the tall girl eventually started enjoying the feeling as well.

"I was wondering…will you be doing anything on Sunday?" Kanako asked while looking up at the glass ceiling of the greenhouse. Touko went wide-eyed at the question.

_Is she…_Touko beamed at the thought and decided to make sure.

"Are you…asking me out…on a…date?" Touko asked, leaning up closer to Kanako with each pause in her words. Kanako kept her gaze upwards but was showing an obvious blush as Touko was so close that she could feel her breathing on her cheek.

"I mean…as a couple…It's obvious that we would go out on dates right…and besid--" Kanako never got to finish her argument as she felt Touko give her a peck on the cheek. The tall girl was once again taken by surprise by her beloved. It would seem that Touko has a pretty high Concealment skill rating or Kanako just has a very low Detection skill rating. Either way, she just ended up staring at Touko while holding her left cheek where she was just kissed.

"I'd love to…" Touko said with a warm smile, Kanako had a very happy smile when Touko said that and, in the heat of the moment, embraced Touko. Kanako held on to her girlfriend like that for a few more minutes. Despite how cold she usually is to other people, she loved showing her affection to the people most important to her like her little sister, Yumi, and of course…Touko.

"Mmmfff…mmmmfmf…ffmmfmm…" Kanako could hear Touko's muffled cries. Kanako had just realized that she had been smothering Touko for a while now and let the girl go. Touko was breathing heavily for a few moments and Kanako was a bit worried that she may have made Touko mad of something.

"I…Uhh…T…Touko-chan…I'm…I mean…" Kanako stuttered while trying to reach out to Touko, who knew that Kanako would have such a Deredere side to her? Touko took in a deep breath and stared at Kanako.

"Umm…" The tall girl was starting to become uncomfortable with the silence.

_Oh no…she IS mad at me! What have I done? I was just so happy about her agreeing to the date that I acted without thinking. I'm so stupid!_ Kanako thought, kicking herself mentally several times for it.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Touko said before flicking Kanako's forehead with her finger.

"ooowww…" Kanako put up a meager protest since she was the one at fault.

"You're surprisingly aggressive aren't you? I should be careful whenever I'm alone with you from now on or else I'm not sure what might happen to me." Touko said in a stern tone.

"Whaa…I would never do something like that to you…" Kanako tried to defend herself.

"Oh? Is it because I'm not worth being aggressive with? You are pretty confident in yourself aren't you?" Touko retorted, making her best impression of Sachiko. Kanako could feel herself becoming smaller and smaller with each word. She hung her head down submissively and did not say a word.

"Hey! Aren't you going to say anything? Where's your comeback?" Touko asked while squinting at Kanako. The tall girl looked at Touko with an imaginary question mark on her head.

"Comeback?" Kanako wondered.

"Yeah! Usually, you'd be throwing all sorts of mean comments at me like a machine gun or at least glare at me for a while. What's with this passiveness? Where's the fire in your eyes? What happened to the girl that I really despised in one point in my life?" Touko said in a hot-blooded manner, points will be deducted for lack of dramatic pointing and theme music. What she got was not the usual Kanako-style scoff or retort but a solemn stare in the eyes.

_Does she want me to act like I did before? Back when we were enemies? Why?_

"That girl fell in love with you…that's what happened…" Kanako said; a hint of sadness in her eyes. The tall girl then looked down on the floor, her hair blocking Touko's view to her face. Touko immediately regretted saying all that and tried to comfort Kanako who was now fully EMO-ing out.

"He-hey…I was just kidding you know…I'm sorry I went to far…I…" Touko was now starting to panic and doing a pretty decent 'Yumi', she unconsciously held the bracelet she was wearing on her right wrist which the taller girl gave her during Christmas. Kanako then slowly turned to face her and to her surprise, Kanako was smiling…not just smiling…

_She's grinning!_ Touko thought in full surprise.

"Got you…" Kanako said while giving a 'V' sign with her left hand. As if a switch was triggered, Touko suddenly reverted to her Tsundere self. She stood up, folded her arms over her chest and turned away from Kanako.

"I hate you…" Touko was the one that said it this time. Kanako smiled and calmly stood up and then embraced Touko from behind. She lowered her head so she could nuzzle against Touko's cheek. She could feel an increase in warmth in Touko's cheek when she did that.

_She's blushing…_Kanako thought and smiled.

"No you don't…" The tall girl whispered to her beloved.

"……Idiot…" Touko retorted, she was still in her Tsundere-mode a bit but that soon went away as she put her hands onto Kanako's.

"So…when are we going out?" Touko asked, still in Kanako's arms.

"I was hoping it would be this Sunday…" Kanako whispered, still nuzzling Touko.

"Where will we go? A movie or something?" Touko asked, rubbing her cheek against Kanako's and relishing her warmth.

"I…don't know…" Kanako replied, her grip on Touko, faltering but the drill-haired girl kept Kanako's arms in place.

"What do you mean…?" Touko asked, her action before calmed Kanako down and she was once again in her full embrace.

"I…don't care where we go…or what we do…I just…I just want to spend the whole day with you…" Kanako said honestly.

"…That's all?" Touko poked around for more information.

"That's all…" Kanako responded.

"Ten in the morning…in front of the train station…we'll go from there…" Touko proposed.

"It's a date…"

...

…_But I don't know what we should do…_Touko said in a panicked voice. On the other end, Nijo Noriko felt like laughing at the irony of Touko panicking about what to do on the date when she was the one who was asked out.

"Just do something that you would both enjoy…That's usually the easiest way to have a good date." Noriko said while casually flipping through a magazine. Touko was silent on the other end, possibly thinking about the idea.

"You can't think--"

...

_--of anything, can't you?_ Noriko's flat remark hit dead on and Touko felt like hiding under a rock because of it. She plopped down onto her bed at the sudden loss of confidence in her upcoming date with Kanako.

"I want us to enjoy ourselves but I really don't know much about Kanako-chan…I want to use this date to get to know her even more." Touko said.

_I might even fall in love with her even more…_Touko smiled at the thought.

...

_That's why I want our first date to be a success…_Touko said with resolve and a hint of desperation.

"Hmmmmmm…" Noriko was still flipping through her magazine when an imaginary light bulb suddenly lit up on her head.

"Touko-san…I think I have the answer…" Noriko calmly said while pointing at a page on her magazine. On the page, it says "Grand Opening this Sunday! New Tokyo Aquarium!"

...

Suddenly, Sunday!

...

Touko was waiting in front of the train station like they had agreed. She was wearing a peach colored jacket over a fitted black T-shirt. She was also wearing tan shorts and black thigh-high socks with her brown shoes. She also had a white, leather shoulder bag and her pigtails were kept by purple ribbons.

_I hope this isn't too much…_Touko thought while appraising herself for the third time. When she had mentioned her date to the servants in her manor, all of them suddenly made it their duty to decide what Touko should wear to look 'cute' for her date. The process of deciding what would make Touko look as what Hayakawa and the rest of the servants define as 'cute' took three days and what the drill-haired girl was wearing at the moment was the final result.

"That is the last time I mention anything to them about my love life!" Touko vehemently declared to herself in a slightly hot-blooded way. Touko was too caught up in her declaration that she didn't notice a figure was walking up from behind her.

"Mention what to whom?" An all too familiar voice said from behind her. Touko was deciding weather to:

-Jump up and yell in pure surprise like most girls would.

-Let all her blood drain out of her and pass out.

-Completely ignore the voice all together and reason that it was all in her head.

-Turn around and properly greet the person behind her.

"Touko-chan?" The voice called out to her. Touko did not respond, her mind was in white-out at the moment and she could not think straight. She felt like all the blood is draining out of her.

"Touko-chan!" The voice called out with much more force, trying to get her attention. Touko suddenly yelped and stiffened at the voice. She then slowly turned around with her eyes closed, looking like there was a bear behind her or something.

"Gokigenyo…Kanako-chan…" Touko said submissively. It's amazing that she managed to do all the reaction options that she had thought of before. The drill haired-girl finally got a good look at Kanako.

Touko had originally thought that Kanako would be wearing something classy like what she wore on their outing with Yumi in GOKI-Land. Contrary to what she had thought, Kanako was actually quite casual in her attire today. She was wearing a thin, light-purple sweater and wore fitted, dark blue jeans with a tan belt and was also wearing a pair of blue sneakers. What surprised Touko the most was that Kanako's very long hair was tied back to a ponytail but she still had her bangs, Touko thought that it looked perfect on her.

"Gokigenyo Touko-chan. You look lovely…" Kanako complimented her girlfriend. Touko blushed at Kanako's words and started laughing.

"You must me joking? This--" Touko pointed to her current attire.

"—is all Hayakawa and the maids' doing, they turned me into their own dress up doll. They said that this was the 'cutest' combination for me." Touko dryly said while doing the quotation motion with her fingers at the word _cute_. Kanako smiled at the thought of Touko being dressed up by the servants in her home.

"Well…" Kanako gives Touko a once over, earning a blush from the other girl.

"I'm inclined to agree with them…" Kanako sweetly said.

"You're kidding right? You look way more beautiful than I am!" Both of them went silent after realizing what the drill-haired girl just said.

"Th—Thank you…but you look much better than me. I'm just plainly dressed after all." Kanako replied, a bit off guard to what Touko said.

"What? No! You look great! Everything looks perfect on you. I especially love how you did your hair!" Touko blurted out. The two remained silent again, and both were blushing. Touko then took a look around and saw that there passers by who were looking at them, it was a train station after all.

"Umm…let's go over there for now." Touko said before dragging Kanako to a nearby bench. The two of them sat down and calmed themselves down.

"Well…that was something I don't normally experience everyday." Touko said offhandedly. Kanako nodded in agreement.

"Yes…I didn't notice that there were so many people who were looking at us." Kanako pointed out.

"Yeah…it was weird. It was like you were the only thing I could see and…" Touko stopped after she realized what she just said. She then looked at Kanako who was looking down at the floor and twirling her hair with her fingers.

"I was…I was the same…Touko-chan was the only one I could see at that time as well." Kanako bashfully admitted. The two of them sat there for a while without uttering a word.

_This is stupid! Why is the atmosphere so awkward? This is so frustrating!_ Touko thought, balling her right hand into a fist. Kanako noticed Touko's action and started to get nervous.

_Oh no! Is she mad? What should I do?_ Kanako wondered. She the heard a sharp sound, she looked at Touko who looked like she had just slapped both of her cheeks with her hands. Touko then took a deep breath and looked at Kanako with a smile.

"Back to normal…" Touko said. Kanako's eyes lit up to what Touko had just said and nodded in agreement.

"So…what now?" Kanako asked.

"Do you have anywhere specific you wanted to go to?" Touko asked her with renewed confidence.

"Actually…I was thinking if you would like to accompany me to the New Tokyo Aquarium." Kanako replied, the drill-haired girl suddenly had a strange sense of déjà vu.

_She thought of the Aquarium too?_ Touko wondered.

"Oh really? Did you want to go to the opening of that aquarium for a while now?" Touko asked her girlfriend, to which Kanako shook her head.

"Actually, I really didn't know where we should go or what we should do so…I called Noriko-san for some help and she recommended the New Tokyo Aquarium." Kanako admitted and Touko had half-expected that answer after hearing about the aquarium.

_Well, at least it makes it easier now to decide the venue._ Touko thought to herself before standing up. She then held out her hand to Kanako.

"Then it's decided! Let's get going Kanako-chan." Touko said.

"Alright…" Kanako replied before taking Touko's hand and heading off into the station.

...

There was a strange sense of awe between the two girls at the moment as they stood in front of the entranceway for the aquarium. It was a very large building in itself, the entire complex itself is definitely even larger than the entire Lilian Campus. It is the latest landmark in the multitude of accomplishments of the Mishima Business Group and the very first project directly handled by the heiress of the group, Mishima Sayoko. You can find out more about the story to this aquarium eventually on "My Red Rosebud". Shameless plug-in is shameless…anyway…

"This place is massive…you'd think that they were hiding a whale in here or something." Kanako commented.

"I wouldn't bet against it…they just might have one tucked away in there somewhere." Touko replied and Kanako was inclined to agree as well. The two of them bought their tickets and entered the main lobby. As expected of a grand opening, there were an impressive amount of people there, most of which were families and couples out to have a good time. Kanako was still in awe at the scale of the whole thing and the sheer number of people there that she gasped when she felt Touko hold onto her hand.

"Touko-chan?" Kanako looked at her girlfriend who just gave a wry smile.

"There are too many people here…I don't want to get separated so…" Touko squeezed Kanako's hand tighter.

"…don't ever let go." Touko said, feigning worry. Kanako understood what Touko meant and squeezed back.

"…never." Kanako replied ala Shoujo Manga Main Male Protagonist, feel free to add sparkles and/or spontaneous flower explosions. The two of them then began their date in the New Tokyo Aquarium, hand in hand.

First place they went to…was the main map layout of the complex. They learned their lesson after losing Yumi in Goki-land back then and decided to at least plan out a tentative route to their exploration.

"Wow…I don't even know where to start." Touko said, daunted at the sheer amount of attractions there. If you were looking at the map of the layout of the aquarium complex, it would kinda look like the schematic diagram of a giant robot that was created to save/destroy the world. Kanako was quietly scanning the map, trying to decide where to go first when she found a point of interest to her which made her face light up.

"What is it? Find something you like?" Touko asked. Kanako's smile immediately died at Touko's words and she looked away in embarrassment. The drill-haired girl wondered what was wrong with Kanako's sudden change in attitude.

"Hey? What's wrong? Didn't you find something you liked?" Touko asked to which Kanako nodded.

"Then we can start there. Which one is it?" Touko looked at the area Kanako was looking at before.

"No…I'm sure that you won't enjoy yourself there…lets start somewhere else first." Kanako tried to reason. She soon regretted doing that as she felt the warmth in her left hand disappear. Kanako turned to look at why and saw that Touko had let go of her hand and hand both her arms crossed in front of her chest and was glaring at Kanako. The tall girl must have forgotten what Touko was like if you made her mad as the drill-haired girl had invoked 'Tsundere Enhancement Rank B'. It used to be A+ ranked but now had a severe penalty due to Touko's love for Kanako…even so…

"Touko-cha--"

"And who says that I won't enjoy it huh? Don't dismiss something that you haven't tried yet!" Touko lectured her love.

"But…it's not something a girl you normally enjoy observing in an aquarium exhibit so I thought that…" Once again Kanako was cut-off…

"It's something that you like. And I am going there with you to understand why and to understand your tastes better. And I'll be going there with YOU! So there is no way on earth that I wouldn't enjoy it as well because I WILL BE WITH YOU!" Touko huffed a few times after that.

_She should have gotten the message by now. If not, I'll just have to drill it into her thick skull._ Touko thought, emotion still running high which is why she didn't realize that she made a joke about herself just now. Kanako was speechless with what Touko just said. She looked down and caressed her ring.

_I'm so stupid. Why do I have to be so insecure? I want to know more about Touko-chan and I want her to know more about me. And now I understand that she wants the same as well._ Kanako looked up and saw Touko with a much less tense expression.

_It's happening again._ Kanako was talking about what happened in front of the train station before. All the people who were walking around disappeared. The noise around them and the surroundings altogether disappeared. All there was right now for Kanako was…

_Touko-chan…_The girl right in front of her. She nodded to herself in renewed will.

"Alright…Let's go then Touko-chan." Kanako said, holding out her hand. Touko nodded approvingly and took Kanako's hand.

"So, where is it?" Touko asked after they had started walking.

"On the eastern wing, the mollusk exhibit." Kanako replied.

"Mollusks?" Touko was taken aback at Kanako's choice. It certainly was not something a girl would normally go to see on a date.

_Then again…nothing that has happened up to this point could be considered normal either._ Touko sighed at the thought. Kanako stopped after hearing that.

"Maybe we should see something else first afterall…" Kanako said, her confidence wavering once again. Touko just gave her a flat stare.

"Don't make me let go of your hand again." The drill-haired girl dryly said.

"We're going! We're going!" Kanako reassured Touko before the two of them went off to the east wing of the aquarium. Unknown to the two of them, they were actually spotted by a certain person while they were having their little exchange.

"Well…what do you know. Happy endings do happen afterall…" The person mused.

"Hey! Sei! Hurry up! I wanna see the penguins!" Someone called out to Sei. She former Rosa Gigantea turned and waved to her companion.

"Alright! Keep you pants on Youko!" Sei said while walking up to her date for the day.

"At least until tonight that is…" She never loses her touch does she?

"Very funny Sei…now let's go before anything else happens." The former Rosa Chinensis said before walking off.

"At once My Empress…" Sei replied jokingly. She looked back one last time in the direction where Kanako and Touko went.

_Good luck you two…_

"Sei! If you don't hurry up then I really WILL leave you here." Youko demanded.

"Alright already…Jeez, you've become more demanding haven't you?" Sei joked while poking Youko's shoulder as they went off to see Youko's beloved penguins, as to WHY there were penguins there…I'm not too sure.

...

Like the rest of the exhibits in the Aquarium, the Mollusk exhibit was also extremely well made. There were numerous tanks housing everything with a seashell that you can think of, and several that you never thought existed. The area there was dimly lit to replicate the deep dark oceans where these animals usually lived. When our heroines got there, Kanako immediately let go of Touko's hand and started running around to the different water tanks which housed the ocean/sea-dwellers. Touko was surprised at how much Kanako actually liked these kinds of things. She looked at her hand that Kanako was holding a few seconds ago and then looked up to the tall girl who had her face almost sticking to the glass of the fish tank. If you would take a moment to think about the current mood, you might imagine Kanako's affection ranking is as follows:

'Mollusks' then 'Touko' then 'Yumi' = 'Kanako's stister' then 'Noriko' then 'Everything Else on Earth' then 'Sachiko' and finally 'Men'

_So she likes shellfish more than me huh? I'm not sure how to react to that…_It would seem that Touko came to the same conclusion. She then saw Kanako looking at her and waving, beckoning for Touko to come closer.

"You seem pretty happy. What is it?" Touko asked, she decided to let the apparent fact that her new rival for Kanako are seafood slide since she seemed to be enjoying herself so much. Besides…

_She looks too cute like this…_Touko thought as Kanako peered into the tank full of shellfish like she was a little kid.

"Look Touko-chan! These are Nautilus!" Kanako said while pointing at the life forms in the tank. Touko looked into the fish tank and saw several of the shellfish, most of different sizes and colored shells, floating around and bobbing up and down.

"Nautilus? Like the submarine Nautilus?" Touko asked. She was referring to the Joules Vern classic novel _Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea_. Kanako looked at her girlfriend in wonderment for a second, then immediately beamed with a smile.

_I sense a complicated explanation on the relation of that sub to these shellfish…_Touko thought, and she was not mistaken in that respect either.

"If you are referring to the novel by Vern the you are half-right. That Nautilus was inspired by an actual submarine that was created in the eighteen-hundreds of the same name. That submarine was, of course, named after them." Kanako explained while pointing at the things in the fish tank. Touko peered inside and was imagining the legendary sub of Captain Nemo inside the same tank.

"The basic design of the real-life Nautilus was based from the body structure of these animals. The unique shape of their body allows them to survive amazing depths that anything less than the most advanced deep-sea submarines of today have to be careful with and they have been doing it for millions of years. Their body structure also allowed them to control their buoyancy and provided propulsion via internal compartments in their small bodies, which was also a precursor to jet-propulsion. No space in their body is wasted, they are truly amazing animals." Kanako was speaking with such encyclopedic knowledge of the subject that Touko thought that she was getting a free lecture about these animals from a certified anthropologist.

"That's…amazing…" Touko said while looking into the tank, the lifeforms there seemingly unaware of the multitude of compliments given to them by one of the people looking at them at the moment.

"Yes…they certainly are amazing creatures…" Kanako said.

"No…I was talking about you." Touko rebuked. Kanako was surprised and looked at her companion.

"Me?" The tall girl questioned.

"Yeah, you know so much about these guys. And you can make them sound so interesting as compared to hearing about them from a teacher or a nature documentary. That's what is amazing." Touko said with a smile. Kanako smiled at the compliment and looked back into the tank, the Nautilus still moving around doing their thing.

"I'm relieved…" Kanako admitted. She felt like a boulder was lifted off her shoulders after what Touko said.

"Huh?" Touko eyes widened for a second at Kanako's change of tone.

"I was scared that you would think that I was weird for having such interest in them. I was actually worried at first since this really isn't something a normal girl would enjoy. But when you mentioned the Submarine Nautilus, I was so caught up in the moment that I explained everything about their relation to each other without thinking. I wanted you to see them like I did. I wanted you to appreciate what nature has given them. That's why I'm glad that my feelings managed to get through to you." Kanako said, there were tears welling up in her eyes. The tears sparkled due to the dimly lit area so Touko spotted them immediately and pulled out her handkerchief.

"You dummy. First of all, I already knew for a long time that you were weird so there really isn't anything new with that." Touko said while gently wiping away Kanako's tears.

"Besides, you're right. I used to think that all of these things are the same and were better off boiled or filleted but after you explained what they can do and what they have inspired, they are really starting to seem pretty cool…for shellfish anyway." Touko admitted.

"Thank you Touko-chan…" Kanako was very happy to hear those words from Touko. The drill-haired girl then took Kanako's hand again and gripped it tightly.

"But you let go of my hand and went running off to you precious mollusks so I'm a bit jealous about that." Touko said with a pout.

"Eh?" Kanako wasn't sure how to react to Touko's complaint.

"As punishment, you have to introduce to as many of these things as possible before lunch and make them as interesting to me as the Nautilus were." Touko declared. Kanako then had a very large smile on her face after hearing that.

"Then…" Kanako quickly looked around to find something else that might interest Touko. She found what she was looking for and pulled Touko to that particular tank.

"Here…these are called Pfeffer's Flamboyant Cuttlefish." Kanako intoduced the colorful sea creatures to her girlfriend and got a look from Touko that said _Are you making that up?_

"Flamboyant?!" Touko made her disbelief known, Kanako giggled at Toukos reaction. She had expected to her say that which was why she led her to this fish tank in the first place.

"Don't ask me. I didn't name it. But there is a reason behind that name." Kanako explained, Touko raised a brow to that.

"There'd better be…" Touko said skeptically afterall, it IS a pretty weird name.

"Yes…let me explain…" Kanako then proceeded to explain why that certain cuttlefish was…Flamboyant. The rest of the morning pretty much went like that, due to the size and number of exhibits there and due to Kanako's somewhat lengthy and detailed explanations, they were only able to go through barely half of the species on display there but neither complained about it since they both had a pretty good time.

...

"I'll never look at seafood the same way again…" Touko mused as she took a bite from her burger. The couple was eating lunch in one of the many fast food chains dotted throughout the complex.

"I'm glad you're starting to appreciate them." Kanako observed while eating her own burger.

"I'm more amazed that you managed to explain so much in such a short time without getting tired." Touko pointed out. Indeed, with all the stuff she talked about during their time there, she never seemed to run out of steam.

"That's not true. I suddenly felt tired the moment I sat down here, I guess that I was running completely on adrenaline at the time." Kanako jokingly said. She then noticed that Touko was giving her a flat stare again.

"The way you worked so hard when it comes to those things…I'm a bit jealous again." Touko muttered.

"Eh?"

"I wish I was a Flamboyant Cuttlefish…" Touko mused while continuing her meal.

"Touko-chan…" Kanako was more surprised at how possessive Touko was. I mean…even the tall girl could see how silly it was to be jealous of mollusks.

_But it's a quite amusing though…_Kanako enjoyed the thought of Touko only wanting her only for herself. The tall girl's heartbeat raced at the thought.

"Here…" Touko called the attention of her girlfriend. Kanako was taken aback at what Touko was doing…or what she was trying to do. Touko was currently holding out a French fry to Kanako, ketchup tipped of course.

"What are you doing?" Kanako said in honest wonderment.

"I'm trying to feed you a French fry…what does it look like? Now say 'aaaahh…'" Touko replied while leaning over to get closer to Kanako.

"What? Why?" Kanako asked while leaning away from Touko.

"Because I want to. Now just eat the darn French fry already…" Touko actually decided to do that with Kanako because she saw another couple feeding each other Sundaes. Due to a lack of Sundaes however, Touko decided to try out the experience with something more at hand.

"But…isn't that embarrassing?" Kanako was mainly saying this for her own sake since she can tell that Touko is pretty much dead set on this. She was proven right when Touko stood up and leaned in closer to her.

"Every other couple is doing it so I don't see anything wrong with it." Touko reasoned. Kanako looked around and sure enough there were several people who were feeding each other. Granted, several of those were parents feeding their kids but there were also a number of couples engaged in the same things. Kanako noticed some poor souls who were eating alone but they were all men so the tall girl didn't care at all about them. Kanako looked back at Touko who was still trying to handfeed her.

"Well? My arm is starting to get tired you know…" Touko was pretty stubborn about it so Kanako decided to get the whole thing over with before anything else happened. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth so Touko could feed her the silly French fry. She was able to eat the piece of deep fried potato and she opened her eyes while she was chewing it. She saw that her counterpart had a triumphant smile.

"Well that wasn't so hard now was it?" Touko told her beloved. Kanako simply nodded.

"I guess…it was embarrassing but I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world either." Kanako admitted, a tinge of pink was on her cheeks when she thought of what Yumi or Noriko might say if they saw her and Touko like that just now.

"See! Now…do me next!" Touko suddenly said before opening her mouth so she could be fed by Kanako.

"……what?!"

...

After the silly event during lunch (Even with all protests, Kanako STILL ended up hand feeding Touko a French fry much to the drill-haired girl's delight and Kanako's embarrassment), the couple decided to see what else they could find inside the massive aquarium complex. They wandered around leisurely, hand in hand and eventually ended up in the penguin enclosure. To their surprise, there wasn't just one species of penguin there but three in total, each in their own enclosures.

"Oh wow…this is something else…" Touko commented in surprise and amazement. They walked up to the closest enclosure to them and Kanako read the name plate of the enclosure.

"Southern Rockhopper Penguin…" Kanako read the label out loud. Touko peered into the enclosure and saw six small, crested penguins each only a little over a foot tall.

"Whoa…look at those eyebrows! They look really angry don't they?" Touko said while pointing at the penguins. The Southern Rockhoppers are actually the smallest of the yellow-crested, black-and-white penguin species. Their crests look like eyebrows and the way they are oriented on their head makes it look that they are always glaring at something.

"I remember seeing those kinds of penguins in a movie…I think it was called Ecstatic Feet or something…" Kanako mused.

"Don't you mean _Glad_ Feet?" Touko countered.

"Was that the right title? Anyway…I don't think these ones will suddenly start dancing…" Kanako joked, I'm not kidding either…love makes people do things they wouldn't normally do afterall. After the author's justification for making Kanako seemingly a bit out of character, the two of them looked at the other types of penguins there. The other penguin species there were the Magellanic Penguin and the Gentoo Penguin. Both species were pretty nice in their own right but they looked too plain compared to the Rockhoppers. Touko and Kanako made their way out of that area and looked around for something else to do.

"This place is so massive…there's no way we can possibly cover everything in one day." Touko pointed out the painfully obvious.

"True…and even if you can cover everything here, I doubt that you will enjoy yourself considering how taxing it is to explore this place." Kanako said, reflecting her growing fatigue. She then felt Touko let go of her hand and suddenly grab hold of her arm.

"To—Touko-chan?" Kanako really has pathetic resistance to Touko's surprise attacks doesn't she? In any case, Touko simply gave Kanako a very happy smile that seemed to vaporize any sort of fatigue that the tall girl may have had.

"It's starting to get late anyway so let just go to one more exhibit and call it a day then alright?" Touko said while clinging onto her girlfriend. Kanako had already stopped caring about what other people think about them whenever Touko shows her affections to her and did not complain about the drill-haired girl's action.

"Alright…then let's make sure that we go to a really interesting exhibit then." Kanako concurred to Touko's suggestion and the two of them went off to see what exhibit they can go to for their last one of the day. They were walking through one of the main hallways that branch out to the different exhibits when Touko noticed a particular poster. She walked towards it so she could take a closer look and, since she still had her arm around Kanako's, the taller girl was pulled along with her.

"See the New Tokyo Aquarium's BIGGEST attraction…Natasha, the killer whale." Kanako read out loud, her counterpart had a bunch of imaginary question marks appearing over her head.

"Natasha? What kind of name is that for a Killer Whale?!" Touko voiced her disbelief, amazing that she was more concerned about the name of the whale rather than the somewhat amazing fact that a whale was there in the first place.

"I think we found our last stop of the day…" Kanako said, seemingly very interested in seeing the killer whale called Natasha.

"I agree…still has a weird name though." Touko still refused to let go of her disagreement with the naming of the large aquatic mammal. Kanako ignored Touko's odd fixation with the Orca's name and checked the poster to see the location of Natasha's enclosure.

"It's on the Northern Area…It's a bit of a walk but there are shuttles there that go directly to the main entrance so we won't have to walk all the way there." Kanako pointed out.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Touko declared before dragging Kanako away to see the killer whale Natasha.

...

The poster that was saying that the Killer Whale display was the biggest attraction in the aquarium was not exaggerating in any respect, in fact...it was actually a bit of an understatement. Yes, there was the killer whale. But there was also the fact that nearly half of the Northern Building of the complex was taken up with the tank. Most of it was underground, which is why the surface of the northern area did not look that large but there were several stairways and escalators to the bulk of the tank that was beneath. What CAN bee seen on the surface is the top of the humongous tank that housed the killer whale which was open so Natasha could go up to the surface for air. There was a divider between the edge of the tank surface and the visitors to prevent anyone from prematurely feeding Natasha (read: eaten alive). Our heroines had just arrived there and were also in awe of the size of the tank. It was close the size professional football pitch and was around seven stories deep; it IS housing a whale afterall.

"This place is huge…" Touko pointed out the obvious, Kanako just nodded in silent agreement. They found one of the entrances to the underground area around the tank and were amazed with what they saw. Instead of just peering into the side of the tank, which will be pointless if the Natasha was somewhere else in the tank, the visitors actually get to walk around INSIDE the tank…sort of. The walkways are actually below the tank itself, people can walk around and see everything that is inside due to glass bubble ceilings.

"Amazing…" Kanako was completely…well, amazed at the sheer engineering feat. She looked up and saw the hazy transparency of the water and sunlight was barely seeping through to where they were. It really felt like you were underwater. The walkways are dimly lit as not to spook the fish in the tank, yes, the killer whale was not the only thing in there…they were trying to recreate a good habitat for Natasha afterall.

"Look! Look!" Touko pointed frantically at something she saw in the depths of the tank. Kanako looked at where Touko was pointing at and saw a school of small, silver colored fish, the little light that came from the walkways reflected on their scales and made them shimmer in the water.

"Beautiful…" Kanako blurted out, Touko nodded several times in agreement.

"Aren't they? Wow! Look!" Touko pulled Kanako closer to her while pointing at the fish. They suddenly moved around in unison and their scales sparkled from the light before they all disappeared into the depths of the tank. Touko wrapped her arms tighter on Kanako's arm due to the sheer amazement of what just happened.

"That was great! Did you see that Kanako-chan?" Touko asked, pulling on Kanako like a little girl.

"Yes, that was amazing…" Kanako said while looking into the depths where the school of fish disappeared to. Touko held on to Kanako like that for a bit longer while remembering what just happened, imaginary sparkles were in her eyes. Kanako suddenly blushed when she realized that her arm is currently wedged tightly in between Touko's breasts. Normally, this wouldn't be a real problem since they are both girls. The problem was that feeling the warmth of the person you are in love with coming from one of that person's more…private places can elicit some pretty intense reactions.

"Kanako-chan? What's wrong?" Touko asked. Even in the low light, Touko could still notice Kanako's blush due to her close proximity. Kanako felt like her heart was about to pop and she was showing it with a masterful 'Yumi'.

"Too…close…" Touko was barely able to hear Kanako's murmur.

"What is too close?" The drill-haired girl asked while leaning in closer, squeezing herself even tighter into Kanako's arm.

"You are…too…close…" Kanako said using all the willpower she had left.

"…what?" Touko responded, clueless to Kanako's distress.

"To—Touko…cha—chan…You…your…." Kanako struggled to get her point across.

"My…what? Just say it already." Touko said.

"My…arm…your…your…your…" Kanako couldn't bring herself to say the last part due to pure embarrassment. If this was an anime I guess that Kanako's face would be completely red and steam would be coming out of her ears…and feel free to add spiral eyes as well.

"Your arm? What's wrong with you arm? Does it hurt?" Touko asked. She looked at Kanako's arm that she is latched onto but did not move away from it. Kanako slowly shook her head and used her free hand to point at Touko's chest. Touko looked at what Kanako was pointing at and finally saw the cause of Kanako's embarrassment.

"Aaahhh…ah..aaahhh…S-so—sorry!" Touko yelped before letting go. Kanako felt both relief and disappointment at the loss of her girlfriend's warmth but the embarrassment trumped her desire for Touko's warmth so Kanako did not object to her girlfriend's sudden release of her arm.

"I'm sorry! I was so caught in the moment that I didn't notice that I was…that I was…" Touko couldn't finish her sentence since she was embarrassed as well. An awkward silence went between them for a while, there was no one else around at the time so the silence was amplified. As if Maria-sama herself decided that what was happening was too silly, a family of three appeared from a different section of the tank. A little girl, who appeared to be about six or seven years old, was running in front of her parents and was looking directly up at the ceiling like she was looking for something. She had brown hair that was tied into short pigtails. She also had big brown eyes and an energetic disposition from how she was running around the place; she was pretty much a mini-Yumi.

"Where did it go? Where did it go?" The little girl asked to no one in particular while her parents hung back a distance away to give her room to explore while still keeping an eye on her. The little girl then approached the couple and pulled on Kanako's sweater. The tall girl looked down on the girl and went wide-eyed when she realized that the girl looked like a tiny Yumi.

_Yumi-sama?_ Kanako went into a slight trance at the thought, while making a pretty good impression of Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh whenever she sees something cute.

"Onee-chan! Onee-chan! Did you see where it went?" The little girl asked. Touko noticed that Kanako wasn't responding to the girl and was just staring at her like she was looking at some strange creature so she decided to answer for her girlfriend.

"What do you mean?" Touko asked, getting the girl's attention. The little girl gave Touko a big smile that Touko realized why Kanako went into a trance.

_She reminds me of Yumi-sama…_Touko thought to herself. She really wasn't mad at Yumi anymore but she still found it very awkward to talk to Yumi considering how she said all those hurtful things to the new Rosa Chinensis.

"I'm talking about Natasha! Natasha the whale! I saw her come this way! Did you see her Onee-chan?" The little girl asked playfully.

_The whale? It went this way?_ Touko thought and, as if on cue, Kanako suddenly yelped and took some steps back while pointing at something on the opposite side of where they were.

"Na—Na—Na—Na—Ta—Nata--" Kanako stuttered repeatedly like a strange chant. Touko and the little girl looked at each other with imaginary question marks on their heads.

"Nana?" Touko wondered.

"Natana?" The girl responded. Kanako shook her head at both, her face was pale while still pointing at the same place. Why can't they just look at where she was pointing?

"Na—Na—Natasha!" Kanako finally managed to get her point across to the other girls who immediately whipped around, just in time to see the killer whale peering into the walkway where they were. Natasha was still a juvenile whale but she was certainly big enough to swallow any of them whole if she wanted to.

Touko backed away slowly, suddenly understanding her girlfriend's distress. They were underwater, with nowhere else to run, with a very large aquatic carnivore looking right at them, and only glass separating them from certain doom…not a very favorable place to be. Despite the Lilian girls' worries, the little girl walked right up to Natasha and touched the glass that separated them.

"Get back! It's dangerous there!" Kanako called out. The little girl just looked back at them with a smile.

"It's alright…Natasha is just a little girl like me, she won't hurt us." The little girl said with full confidence. Natasha then slowly moved closer to the girl and poked at the glass with her snout. The little girl rubbed the part of the glass Natasha touched as if acknowledging their contact. Touko and Kanako could only stare in awe in what was happening in front of them. The little girl's parents finally caught up with her and they stood behind their daughter. Natasha looked at them for a moment before swimming away to another part of her new home. The little girl whipped around and pouted at her parents complete with hands on her hips.

"You scared her away…" The little girl reprimanded her parents. Said parents simply looked at each other and smiled and gave apologetic looks at their child.

"I'm sorry that we scared away your friend drear…" The child's mom feigned guilt.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. You should apologize to Natasha." The child said in a stern tone.

"Of course Yumi, we will apologize the next time we see Natasha." Her father said while patting her head. The child nodded in satisfaction after that and made her way back to Touko and Kanako where she then politely bowed in front of the two girls.

_This girl…_Kanako started the thought.

_Has the same name as Yumi-sama…_Touko ended the thought. Indeed, she resembled Yumi in a lot of ways and the fact that they had the same name made the girls wonder if they were in the twilight zone or something. Yumi ended her bow and stood up straight and looked at Kanako, then at Touko.

"Nice to meet you! My name is Ayuzawa Yumi. Thank you for helping me find Natasha, Onee-chan!" Yumi said to Kanako, who was completely unable to withstand the sheer cuteness in front of her and was once again in a complete trance. Touko noticed this and decided to save Kanako the embarrassment.

"Nice to meet you too Yumi-chan. My name is Matsudaira Touko and…" She pointed to Kanako.

"…this is Hosokawa Kanako." Touko finished the introductions. Yumi-chan (will be designated as such to differentiate her from Fukuzawa Yumi) smiled at Touko and then looked back at Kanako who was still motionless.

"What's wrong with Kanako-nee-chan?" Yumi-chan asked. Touko just smiled and patted the little girl on the head.

"Oh…don't worry about her. She just acts like that whenever she sees something she finds very cute." What Touko said was half-true since what Kanako thought as cute was a Mini-Yumi.

"Me?" Yumi-chan pointed to herself. Touko nodded, to which the little girl smiled gleefully.

"Yumi…" The girl's mother called out. Touko and Yumi-chan turned to see Yumi-chan's parents walking towards them (Kanako was still incapacitated).

"It's getting late dear. We need to go home so you should say goodbye to your new friends." Yumi-chan's father said in a kind voice. The little girl nodded and looked back at Touko.

"I need to go now Touko-nee-chan…" she then looked at Kanako.

"…please tell Kanako-nee-chan that I said goodbye." Yumi-chan said before she went off with her parents to go home. After a Ayuzawa family left, Touko began trying to snap Kanako out of her trance.

"Hey…Kanako-chan. Yumi-chan is gone now. You can snap out of your trance now." Touko said gently to Kanako's ear…nothing. Touko tried poking at Kanako's cheek…nothing. Touko tried shoving Kanako around…nothing. The drill-haired girl was not getting mad and decided to take things a bit further. She crept up to Kanako's ear and took a deep breath…

"If you don't snap out of it…I…WILL…break up with you…" Touko said in a calm but very serious Sachiko-grade voice. The effect was instant as Kanako flinched and started to look around.

"Where did the little girl go?" Kanako asked, Touko just sighed at her girlfriend's ineptitude.

"She's already gone…don't you remember anything?" Touko asked, Kanako just shook her head.

"No…I remember thinking that the little girl looked like a tiny Yumi-sama…then nothing…then I had a very bad feeling that if I don't wake up…I'd regret it for the rest of my life…" Kanako mused and managed to elicit a blush from Touko with the last part.

_That was actually pretty sweet of her…in a weird sort of way…_Touko debated in her mind weather or not to consider it as a good thing.

"Touko-chan…" Kanako called the attention of her beloved.

"…Yeah?" Touko responded.

"About Yumi-sama…" Kanako trailed off. They both know what this was about anyway but the silence that followed was deafening, and was amplified by the eerie dimly lit pathway.

"I…don't hate Yumi-sama…" Touko broke the silence. Kanako just waited for her love to finish what she wanted to say.

"I know that…what…what she did…asking me to be her…Petit Soeur…" Touko paused at the memory.

"…that was something…she really wanted to do…and not just something out of pity…right?" She looked at Kanako with pleading eyes.

"Yes…Yumi-sama told me that she wanted you for her Petit Soeur long before she asked you." Kanako said in a gentle voice while taking Touko's hands into hers.

"What…should I…" Touko was in the verge of tears. She really didn't know how to approach Yumi about this and it was painful to her. Kanako embraced the trembling girl who quietly wept in the arms on her love.

"Don't worry…whatever happens…we'll face it together…" Kanako whispered in Touko's ear which made the drill-haired girl sob even harder.

...

After Touko calmed down, the two of them exited the Natasha's tank and made their way to one of the shuttle buses that go to the main entrance of the aquarium complex. They climbed onto the bus and found that there was no one else there except the driver.

"Are you two headed for the main entrance?" The driver asked. He was an elderly gentleman, but seemed to be capable of his job so Touko and Kanako nodded to his question.

"Alright, hop on then. We'll leave in a couple of minutes." The man explained. The two of them climbed on the bus and sat down near the front. The bus was about to leave when…

"Wait! Don't close that door!" A firm, female voice yelled out.

"Alright…Alright…don't worry, we won't leave you. No need to hurry like that." The kind bus driver said. The woman, who that voice belonged to, was leaning into the bus, trying to catch her breath from that sprint. The woman was around their age from what Touko and Kanako could tell. She had long flowing red hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a blue denim jacket over a yellow T-shirt. She was also wearing black jeans and sneakers. The woman looked up and looked inside the bus.

"Sorry about that…I just thought that you were going to leave already." The woman bowed apologetically.

"It's fine…It's fine. Just hop on so we can leave now." The bus driver said. The woman climbed on the bus and sat on the opposite row where Touko and Kanako were.

"Hello there…sorry about the commotion before." The red haired woman said while holding her left cheek. The two girls smiled at her and nodded.

"It's fine…" Kanako said with a smile.

"So…are you two here on a date or something?" The woman said jokingly. Kanako and Touko looked at each other then gave the woman apologetic smiles. There was silence for a few moments until the driver started up the engine and got the shuttle bus moving.

"……Oh…" The woman finally broke the silence.

"Yes…is there anything wrong with that?" Kanako asked. She didn't like the woman's reaction and that made her defensive about the relationship between her and Touko.

"No, no…nothing wrong with that. I was just a bit surprised that I guessed correctly." The woman said while putting her hands up in defense. Kanako then got a gentle nudge in the side from her girlfriend.

"Kanako-chan…don't scare her like that. It's rude." Touko reprimanded Kanako, to which the tall girl remained silent. The drill-haired girl sighed at her girlfriend's stubbornness but was a bit happy because of the tall girl's adamant defense of their relationship.

_My very own prince huh?_ Touko entertained the thought of Kanako in full princely garb complete with white horse before turning towards the red-head.

"Sorry about what Kanako-chan said. But yes, we are here on a date. What about you?" Touko said, clearing up any misunderstandings. The red-haired woman gave a sad smile at Touko's question though.

"A date huh…that would have been nice…" The woman mused. Touko regretted asking since it seemed that she had said something hurtful. Kanako also responded to that reply and gave the woman a slightly worried look.

"I'm actually here on vacation with my parents…well…that's what it was supposed to be but they're busy with some business here and just told me to go out and play. What am I a child?" The woman explained in a dry tone.

"…I had hoped though…you see…I had gotten some news that someone…very important…to me was living in this city and I hoped that I would have been able to find him. A childish dream really..." The woman trailed off while looking out the window. Once again, deafening silence followed. If the bus driver had heard the woman's story, he was doing a pretty good job on keeping his opinions to himself. When the shuttle reached its destination, the three girls stepped off and bid farewell to the driver. Kanako and Touko were about to walk away when…

"Your names…" The woman called out. The two Lilian students turned around and looked at the red-head.

"May I ask…what your names are?" She asked in a calm tone.

"Why?" Kanako frankly asked, she was still a bit defensive of this woman.

"I just…wanted to do the same thing that person did when we first met…Call it being nostalgic if you want…I know that I probably won't see you two again but…I would at least like to know…" She said while looking up at the sky.

"Kanako…Hosokawa Kanako…" Kanako surprisingly gave out her name freely. Touko got the cue and decided to go along with it.

"Touko…Matsudaira Touko…" Touko gave her name.

"Nice to meet you Hosokawa-san…Matsudaira-san…" the red-head bowed to them politely.

"I'm Haruna…Sawatari Haruna…" Haruna gave her name after regaining her posture.

"It's nice to meet you too Sawatari-san…" The two girls said in unison while bowing.

"Are you headed to the station Sawatari-san? You can come along with us." Kanako offered but Haruna shook her head.

"Thank you but…I am expecting my mother to pick me up here so I guess this is where we part ways." Haruna said with a smile.

"I hope we can see each other again Sawatari-san." Touko said and Kanako nodded in agreement.

"Yes…I would like that as well…" Haruna replied with a gentle smile.

...

The two girls said goodbye to Haruna and made their way to the train station. Kanako was suddenly surprised when Touko reached out and held her hand. The tall girl looked at her counterpart with surprise.

"What?" Touko asked nonchalantly.

"Nothing…" Was all Kanako said, Touko smiled a bit to that.

"Touko-chan…" Kanako called Touko's attention.

"Yeah?" Touko responded.

"A lot happened today huh?" Kanako calmly asked.

"Yup…" was all Touko replied.

They got to the station and Kanako was getting ready to say goodbye to Touko. The drill-haired girl was to be picked up by Hayakawa in a few minutes.

"Are you sure you don't want us to drive you home?" Touko offered to Kanako again.

"And explain to everyone in my house what I'm doing getting dropped off by an expensive car?" Kanako retorted.

"True…well then…" Touko suddenly leaned in close and pecked Kanako on the lips.

"Take care…see you at school." Touko said softly, a noticeable blush on her cheeks. Kanako was also blushing at what she just did but was not surprised on why she did it.

"Yeah…" Kanako replied before heading off into the station. Hayakawa arrived soon afterwards and Touko got into the family car.

"Did you enjoy yourself today Touko-sama?" Hayakawa asked while driving home with Touko.

"Yeah…a lot happened but it was fun." Touko replied.

"A lot has been happening lately hasn't it?" The old butler pointed out. Touko remained silent as she thought back on the events of the past weeks.

"Yeah…there are things I still need to settle but…" Touko looked out the window.

"…I'll be fine as long as I can face it with Kanako-chan…"

...

YAY! I hoped you all enjoyed that! Please R&R and Happy Valentines Day!


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